Hitting the Showers
by Pyrinsomniac
Summary: In which the Team gets dirty & then sees each other naked. Not as risque as it sounds.


The mission had sapped them. It wasn't that it was particularly difficult, but Clayface has a thing for the sewers and Connor has a bad habit of breaking things (including walls) when he's pissed. Clayface had led them a merry chase underneath a block of downtown saturated with restaurants, and played hide- and- go- seek using gigantic blocks of reeking, solidified fat as cover. Connor's the worst of them- fed up with the living clay's game, he'd finally held his breath, dove through a chunk of the disgusting stuff and had M'gann telekinetically hold Clayface's body together while he throttled the villain and repeatedly smashed his head into the ground- but they all stink. They're so covered in filth that the Bioship hesitated before lowering her ramp; the Team proceeded inside to the curious sight of the Ship laying down a protective film over her interior before each step the teenagers took, like a plastic furniture cover.

The trip back is spent in exhausted, sullen silence- until the Ship comes within range of the Mountain. The teens sit up straight in their seats, posture impeccable, as intent on their base as a hound on the scent. As M'gann brings the ship down each of them tenses, waiting for the door to release them. The Ship picks up on this; instead of forming a ramp, she merely melts half her side away so her passengers can spill out.

"_I CALL FIRST SHOWER!_" every single one of them shouts as soon as the first hint of light appears. They scramble out of the Bioship in a frenetic ball of arms, legs, and curses, making a beeline for the bathroom.

M'gann is too wiped to successfully hold all of them; she settles for tripping the unwary, but her teammates' recovery time is too fast and there's too much infighting for it to make much difference. And she has to concentrate to keep herself in the air; Connor keeps grabbing at her heels, trying to either slow her down or get her to carry him.

Kid Flash, Artemis and Nightwing are a tangle of jabbing elbows, attempted sweeps, escrima sticks, and bow; they're in front, so loath to give up the lead that they're shoulder to shoulder, shoving one another. Batgirl and Robin follow hard on their heels; Robin tries a couple of times to either prise them apart or trip one of them with his bo, but after both Artemis and Dick successfully disarm him within seconds only to lose the bo to the other, Tim snatches it back and stashes it on his belt again. Zatanna trails them but not by much, hissing spells under her breath that put only a momentary hitch in the mad dash forward, so intent are they on their goal.

It's Nightwing who reaches it first, of course; he manages to tangle one of his escrima sticks in Artemis' bow and leverage the bow against one of her knees to send her crashing into Wally, and Artemis thrusts her bow up as she falls in what may be an attempt to protect it, an attempt to trip Batgirl and Robin, or both.

If that was her intention, she succeeded. By the time they all pull themselves to their feet, Nightwing's tapped on a console by the door, instructing the computer to shut and lock it. "Be out in an hour!" he calls, cackling.

Artemis and Wally level an assessing glare at each other, then the door; Wally overrides the lock in seconds and they squeeze through the doorway shoulder- to- shoulder.

"No girls allowed!" tuts Wally, putting his hands on his girlfriend's shoulders and attempting to turn her around.

She grabs his wrists, twists, kicks his legs out from under him and arranges his fall so that he lands flat on his back with her boot on his chest.

"I go where I wanna go, Wallman." she dismisses, collapsing her bow and stashing it on her belt as his chest spasms uselessly and he tries to remember how to breathe.

A squeak behind them reminds them that they're not alone.

Batgirl's face is as red as her hair; she and Zatanna stare, stricken, at the Adonis in the shower.

Dick Grayson stands under the spray, blinking at his teammates. "Umm."

Artemis wolf whistles.

"Nice, bro." Wally tosses out offhandedly, shucking his goggles and starting on his suit.

Dick smirks in a particularly self- satisfied manner. "Aww, thanks guys. Good to know all my hard work isn't going unappreciated."

Artemis drops her belt. "You're not too bad yourself there, Wallman." she calls, as Wally races to the shower across from his best friend.

M'gann sighs and melts her clothes into the simple red crossband they'd seen in her true form; she tosses it to the floor with Artemis' top.

Connor strips efficiently and runs to the shower, greeting the water with a reverence his friends have never before seen in him.

Zatanna shrugs and drops her reeking costume to the growing pile.

Tim and Barbara very carefully avoid looking at one another; Babs is the first to crack, muttering, "Oh, fuck it" and removing her utility belt, cowl, boots, and pants in what looks like one movement.

She's already raising her arms and face to the water when Tim stares at the floor, starts nattering in his head about public bathing in cultures throughout history and divests himself of his mask and costume.

* * *

Written for the youngjusticeheadcanons fanfic challenge on Tumblr. Go check it out, it's awesome!

May tweak this later...


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